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Health & Fitness

Feeling Unthankful? You Might Feel Differently After Reading This

Look around your neighborhood -- or the world, for that matter -- and it's easy to see many people who have it harder than you.

Sometimes being thankful does not come easily. Over the past couple of years, the job and housing markets have taken turns for the worse. Top those two scoops of awful with a side of our economy and you have the perfect recipe for a case of the blues. 

In every neighborhood, you see the evidence. Empty homes. Many of my neighbors have moved away, but only a few were for job advancement opportunities.   

What I do see more of are the homes that went into foreclosure, quick sales and bankruptcy. It seems every block has at least one home with a "for sale" sign posted in the front yard, with notices taped to the front door, newspapers strewn about the yard and weeds growing in the grass and flower beds. Some hopeful family’s dream … lost.

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There are millions of well-qualified people who simply cannot find a job, despite their best efforts. After their savings are depleted, how they survive is nothing short of a miracle and a mystery to me. I have seen grown adults move in with extended family, friends and sometimes neighbors. It is a hard road to be on and it breaks your heart to witness, especially around the holidays.

Off and on over the years, I have had the opportunity to travel a little bit. I’ve enjoyed some wonderful vacations. However, there is a side of me that is more interested in seeing the non-touristy locationsl. I look forward to witnessing how the common everyday person is surviving in their real world. 

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There are so many homeless, starving and sick people in this world. When a person is in a scenario such as this and you combine it with poverty, they are truly in survival mode. 

I have seen families with nothing, living in homes made of scraps. They have no clean water to drink, no food to eat, no heat, no electricity, and own nothing except the clothes on their back.

The parents are unable to send the children to school as they can’t afford it or the children need to work in order to help the family survive. Families bathe and wash their clothes in dirty streams and rivers. There are no proper facilities when you need to use the restroom. Toilet paper, what is that?

And I am embarrassed when I see how much skinnier entire countries are in comparison to me and the typical American. 

As soon as these stricken people realize you are from the United States, they are sure in their mind that you are rich. After all, if you could afford to travel on an airplane to their country, surely you must be a millionaire. Their begging is painful, as you cannot help everyone. You try to help a few of the most obvious hardship cases. I have a soft spot for the children born with birth defects. Most often they are the poorest. 

After visits to countries like this, I always find myself feeling torn on the trip home. Half of me is really looking forward to stepping back into my own house. The other half of me is so thankful for everything I have, even when times are tough.

I have electricity, a warm place to lay my head, food in the refrigerator and clean water to drink. I can bathe in hot water and change into clean clothes. I have my health and family. I have an education. I can help others and feel so good in knowing I made a difference. 

I highly recommend helping someone in your community anytime you aren’t feeling so thankful. Please try to invite someone to your dinner table who is not as fortunate as you. If you are not comfortable with that idea, please consider a food donation to your local food pantry. 

Have a thoughtful and wonderful Thanksgiving.

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